The use of naturally-occurring thermal springs for the improvement of health and well-being of individuals has been known for centuries. In Roman times, thermal spas such as those in Bath in the UK and the Óbuda-Újlak baths in the Acquincum region of Budapest, Hungary, were an important part of cultural, social and healing activities of the time, and remain so to this day.
It has long been known that thermal mineral water can have beneficial effects on many medical conditions, and on the quality of users' skin, but the precise mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Research into these mechanisms is ongoing, but an increasing number of scientific double-blind studies demonstrate that the efficacy is real.
It is also known, in a nutritional context, that minerals are important for the health of skin, and that they are essential co-factors for a large number of enzymes connected with skin regeneration and prevention of oxidative damage.
Minerals are not, of course, synthesised by the human body, and for the most part are taken in as part of the diet. During digestion, the minerals are absorbed in the gut. However, for direct topical application, in order to target the minerals to the skin cells, absorption of minerals through the skin is poor, because, in their ionised state, penetration through the epidermis is limited.
It is an object of the present to provide improved cosmetic formulations that overcome some of these difficulties.